Outlander

Now that the dust has settled on Renault Nissan’s acquisition of Mitsubishi, our favorite electric hill climb people are- finally!- able to start making plans for their future. Big plans, too, it seems- because Mitsubishi will be spending more than 5 billion USD to develop new product lines over the next three years!

Despite a dramatically shrinking market share and factory closings in the US, we’re big fans of the little company that could here at Gas 2. The Mirage is more fun than it should be, and Mitsubishi’s PHEV Outlander has gotten a ton of virtual ink on these “pages”. It’s also won awards, even- and sold well beyond expectations. With this fresh injection of cash, Mitsubishi might be able to make good on its promise of bringing the PHEV Outlander to North America sooneventually.

The expansion of Mitsubishi’s PHEV offerings is just one aspect of the new merger. As we reported when news first broke, the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance’s objectives include the doubling of annual synergies to more than 10 billion Euros, with more than nine million vehicles to sharing four common platforms. Mitsubishi will be able to benefit from those economies of scale and, it’s hoped, launch the kind of vehicular renaissance that’s going to be needed to bring it back from the brink.

They’ll have $5 billion to try, anyway.

What do you guys think? Is this kind of investment a smart move for Renault Nissan, or is this money down the drain for a dying brand? Let us know how you think it will go in the comments section, below. See? Rhyming’s not hard.

The Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid is now set to achieve a new sales record in Japan from the looks of it. The company’s year-to-date sales for their super-safe, award-winning plug-in hybrid seven-passenger SUV seem almost certain to eclipse 2015’s “worth getting excited about” cumulative sales.

Sales picked up notably in Japan following on the release of the 2016 model year of the popular plug-in hybrid (PHEV) — with sales for the year totaling (as of the beginning of November) 9664 units; which compares to 9608 units sold (total) in 2013, and 10064 in 2014. Inside EVs provides more information:

With 1,145 sales last month, and 113% growth year-over-year, the Outlander PHEV seems to really enjoy the fall — unlike its all-electric colleague Nissan LEAF which has been patiently awaiting the 30 kWh versions arrival in December.

… November and December could add more than 2,000 and raise the bar by about 20% over 2014. In total, more than 29,300 Outlander PHEV have been sold to date in Japan. Meanwhile, zero Outlander PHEV have been sold in the US due to an oft-delayed launch. Mitsubishi says Outlander PHEV will finally go on sale in the US next year in late April/May.

Hah! You really do have to laugh at that, though there do seem to have been legitimate reasons to remain cautious about Outlander PHEV sales (hence, the company’s inability to keep up with demand). After all, production outstripping demand is a much more significant issue than demand outstripping production. That said, US sales of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are set to begin- finally!- next year, and American buyers may be far less likely to be willing to wait for a hybrid SUV if they can’t find the one they want on a dealer’s lot.

Mitsubishi’s CEO Osamu Masuko told Automotive News recently, “We are strong in SUVs and four wheel drives. And that is what we would like to focus on as core models in the U.S. market. We have changed direction. We are going to allocate more resources to the areas where we are strong in the U.S.” Sales in the US are up 25% over 2014, thanks largely to the company’s reputation for making rugged SUVs.

Concentrating on the company’s strengths makes perfectly good sense, but doesn’t explain why the company is 4 years late bringing its widely acclaimed Outlander PHEV to the US. The plug-in SUV enjoys strong sales in the UK and Europe, but Mitsubishi has fiddled and diddled for years, while it fussed over insignificant details like the shape of the grille or the design of the rear tail lights. It had the market for a plug-in SUV all to itself, but squandered its advantage to focus on silly things. But the wait if finally over, Masuko says. The award-winning Outlander PHEV will go on sale, in the US, in the middle of 2016- perhaps as early as May.

Building further on its reputation for building good four wheel drive vehicles, it will introduce an all new crossover in 2017 that is intended to fill the gap between the compact Outlander Sport and the mid-size Outlander. The new offering will feature coupe styling, as it is now all the rage to build SUVs that are as small as possible inside and out. That makes no sense, of course, but that’s what customers say they want.

Mitsubishi says it will introduce a redesigned Outlander in 2018 and a new Outlander Sport in 2019. All new crossover and the Outlander will offer customers a choice of conventional or plug-in hybrid powertrains. The new Outlander Sport will be all have an all electric option, the company says. The woeful i-MiEV electric sedan will continue on with no changes. It is presently selling at the dismal rate of only 10 cars a month.

I’m sure that there are people reading this who have been waiting for the US release of the Outlander plug-in hybrid for literally years. If that’s you, and you haven’t simply bought a different car in the meantime, you may be disappointed to learn that the Japanese company may only offer 6,000 units of the hugely popular and award-winning 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in the US- which means you’ll have to move quickly to get yours.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid) is expected to hit the US market in May, and to be slowly rolled out as inventory arrives — with monthly sales therefore projected to lie at over 1,000 units per month (assuming relatively even sales through the year).

Given the repeated delays to date, though, perhaps a May launch date for the US version of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV should be taken with a grain of salt. Automotive News provides more:

Mitsubishi expects to sell as many as 6,000 of the gasoline-electric crossovers in the U.S. in 2016, (Mitsubishi CEO Osamu) Masuko said. The new crossover/SUV and next year’s arrival of the Outlander PHEV are further proof that Mitsubishi has no plan to exit the US, despite the fact it will end vehicle production at its only North America assembly plant in November, Masuko said.

“The US is a big market, and of course we’re going to be continuing sales there,” Masuko said. In July, Mitsubishi said it will stop manufacturing vehicles at its Normal, Ill., factory as part of global realignment to concentrate production in Japan, Russia and Southeast Asia. Mitsubishi wants to sell the factory, but will shutter it if no buyer can be found. Masuko said the search for a buyer is still on. “We still don’t have a promising buyer yet, but we haven’t given up,” he said.

Interesting situation. I’d caution that maybe those still waiting for the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV may want to just go ahead and consider a different option.

We first got a taste of what Mitsubishi had in mind for its next Outlander/Pajero SUV at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show earlier this year, when the small (ailing?) company introduced a concept that traded heavily on the brand’s impressive off-road history. While that concept gave us a sense of the company’s future styling direction, though, these pictures from Indian Autos Blog show a completely undisguised 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander/Pajero … and it looks great!

The new Mitsubishi Outlander (Pajero) is set to debut at the 2015 Bangkok International Grand Motor Sale/Show, which is also expected to see the introduction of an all-new Mitsubishi diesel engine that will produce more than 300 lb-ft of torque from just 2.4 liters.

Still, I’m just the one guy- and probably not a buyer on this, anyway- so it hardly matters what I think. What do you guys think? Is this latest redesign going to help push the 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander to new sales heights, or will it end up being a final footnote in the brand’s story before they pull out of North America forever? Check out the (depressingly low-res) images, below, then let us know what you think in the comments.

2017 Mitsubishi Outlander (Pajero) SUV

Over in Europe car buyers looking for an efficient, full-size SUV have become quite taken with the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, a vehicle that is topping sales charts in a number of countries. Yet we still can’t buy one here in America for at least another year, though when it does finally arrive, it won’t be alone, as a smaller Mitsubishi Outlander Sport PHEV is also in the works.

So says AutoGuide, which caught up with Mitsubishi executives at the New York Auto Show. Mitsu’s reveal of the “upgraded” Outlander (the conventional version) was kind of ho-hum, though it did show an increase in interior quality that Americans have come to expect from their SUVs. Before that though, a refreshed Mitsubishi Mirage will show up on dealer lots, and the little fuel-sipper have proven remarkably popular with economy car buyers.

Yet it isn’t cars that Mitsubishi is betting its future on, but rather trucks, SUVs, and of course plug-in cars. When the Outlander PHEV and Outlander Sport PHEV finally arrive in America, they will the market for plug-in family haulers still wide open. In Europe this has made the Outlander PHEV one of the best-selling plug-in cars on the continent, and there are rumors of a plug-in hybrid pickup as well. Old standbys though, like the Lancer Evolution and Galant, won’t be coming back to the Mitsu lineup anytime soon though. The world has just moved on, but that’s probably to Mitsubishi’s benefit.

A compact plug-in SUV seems to be just the thing the world needs right now, and if Mitsubishi can beat its competitors to market, it might be able to carve out a sizable niche for itself to help keep the comeback momentum going.

It’s been four years since the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV first debuted as a concept car, and two years since sales of the plug-in hybrid SUV began in Japan in Europe. But Americans will have to wait at least one more year before the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV goes on sale here, reports Automotive News.

Mitsubishi executives had been insistent that after at least two previous delays, the Outlander PHEV would go on sale here in the U.S. in the fall of 2015 following a refresh that will better appeal to American tastes. A new look for the Outlander is supposed to debut in June, with the PHEV version following shortly thereafter, but it appears the plug-in hybrid version has been pushed back until at least the second-quarter of 2016.

One issue had been production bottleneck of the lithium-ion batteries, and there were concerns that the interior quality and materials might not meet American expectations. Two years into production though, and you’d think that Mitsubishi would have figured these things out by now. Mitsubishi could have easily been the first to market with a plug-in SUV in America, but now the Outlander PHEV is going to run up against a lot of competitors, including the Tesla Model X and the Audi Q7 e-Tron.

Then again, the delay could be part of a master strategy, holding one’s trump cars until the American public has well and truly embraced plug-in cars. After the sales debacle that was the i-MiEV, perhaps Mitsu has taken a more cautious approach to this new market. History favors the bold though, and the Outlander PHEV is a bold statement that most Americans still don’t know about, and that’s just a crying shame.

For the past couple of years Mitsubishi has gone back and forth on the fate of its premier sports car, the Lancer Evolution, teasing us with the idea of a hybrid successor before killing the idea completely. Instead, reports AutoCar, we’ll get a performance version of an unspecified plug-in hybrid SUV.

The company hasn’t decided which SUV will get a performance plug-in drivetrain, only that it will feature technology and knowledge gleaned from the company’s two i-MiEV Pikes Peak racers. The Super All Wheel Control system from the i-MiEV racers will send gas or electric power to all four wheels in the spirit of the Evo, though it’ll need to make a lot of power in order to move an SUV versus the compact sedan that was the Lancer. It’s also possible an all-new model, possibly based on the XR-PHEV concept, might just debut instead.

Mitsubishi basically has two options from this point; up the ante with the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which is raking in the sales in Europe, or the smaller Outlander Sport, which could benefit from an injection of performance. The smaller Outlander Sport model makes the most sense if Mitsubishi really wants to embody the spirit of the departing Lancer Evo, but Mitsubishi already tipped its cards with the Outlander PHEV S Concept that debuted last week.

After Mitsubishi i-MiEV sales failed to take off, the company seems to have pulled back from its pure electric ambitions. Instead it is pursuing plug-in hybrids, with an all-new compact truck and a van version of the Outlander on deck.

Can a plug-in SUV fill the shoes of the Lancer Evo? That’s been the cause of intense debate within Mitsubishi, and once fans catch whiff of this move, they’re sure to have a few cents to add to the conversation as well.

After years of development, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has proven to be a hit in Europe, and the Japanese automaker is sporting things up with the Outlander PHEV S. Though this mild concept is all show and no go, it could be a hint towards what US customers should expect when the Outlander arrives on our shores sometime next year.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV S has a number of little changes that add up to a much brawnier-looking SUV. The front fascia and grille has both been swept back a bit to provide a more aggressive feel compared to the softer lines of the current Outlander, and sharper headlights look ready to cut through the night. The lower air dam also looks much better with this update, whereas the original Outlander’s front end just looked…soft. The back end has also been updated in a similar fashion, but sorry, no pics yet.

The interior was also graced with updated materials like black wood grain trimmed with silver accents, and a center console reminiscent of traditional Japanese lacquered boxes. The interior was said to be a point of concern for Mitsubishi, and is one possible reason why the Outlander PHEV isn’t for sale in the US yet. The S Concept comes with the same 2.0 liter turbo engine and 12 kWh lithium-ion battery-backed plug-in hybrid drivetrain, which has been what most of the talk has centered around.

My concerns aside, Mitsubishi has shown us how a few small changes can make for a much better looking car. Now now I can talk about the good looks of the Outlander PHEV, as well as its cutting edge drivetrain.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has become a certifiable hit in Europe, thanks to its ability to hold seven-passengers and deliver car-like fuel economy. Mitsubishi seems ready to highlight the performance benefits of the Outlander PHEV now, with the upcoming “Concept-S” promising to be “Sporty & Sophisticated”.

Mitsubishi is currently readying an Outlander PHEV for the US market that has higher-quality materials American consumers have come to expect, but over in Europe they’re already working a performance version of the plug-in hybrid SUV.

Details on the Outlander PHEV Concept-S are limited to the above teaser picture, as well as a brief press release that talks about a “refined” interior and exterior design and the “unique driving experience” of the dual-powertrain Outlander PHEV.

Personally, i’m hoping the 4×4 system gets played up, as well as Mitsubishi’s recent rally successes with mildly modified versions of the Outlander PHEV. Few automakers have been willing to expose their hybrids to the extreme elements the way Mitsubishi has, which I think speaks volumes about their confidence in their product.

The Outlander PHEV Concept-S will debut at the Paris Auto Show in October, and the regular Outlander PHEV will hopefully reach American shores next year.

If you live in the UK, the government will give you up to $8,300 if you buy a plug-in hybrid vehicle for personal use. But if you buy a PHEV for business use, it will send as much $13,300 your way. And if you drive it exclusively for business purposes, it will rebate 20% of the sales tax you paid.

Governments set the rules and the rest of us play along, and to take advantage of the UK government’s generosity, Mitsubishi has decided to make its hot selling Outlander PHEV into a commercial vehicle. How? Strip out the rear seats, replace the rear windows with sheet metal and fit the rear with a heavy duty load bed. Voila, it’s a van!

Mitsubishi calls its repurposed van the Outlander PHEV 4Work. The fact that it gets great gas mileage, has tremendous range, and comes with an advance all-wheel drive system makes buying one a no-brainer for British business owners.

Turning passenger cars into commercial vehicles is a time honored tradition around the world. Here in the US, Chrysler has converted lots of Caravans into beasts of burden for the post office and other folks who need to haul stuff around for business purposes. It’s possible the Outlander PHEV 4Work will be available in the US as soon as 2016 as well, though the regular passenger model has yet to launch.

Hybrid vehicles haven’t typically been portrayed as strong or versatile vehicles; they do one thing, really, really well. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is on a mission to change those perceptions though, having just completed the difficult and nearly 2,000 km course in less than 20 hours.

Mitsubishi says that the Outlander PHEV covered 1,986 kilometers, or about 1,234 miles, in a time of just 19 hours and 17 minutes, traversing the jungles, mountains, and historical sites that the Asia Cross Country Rally (or AXCR) encompassed this year. Stops included Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, and thanks to the addition of a rally-tuned suspension, the Outlander PHEV was able to make the journey without much difficulty.

The Mitsubishi Motors rally team finished 14th overall, an improvement from last year’s 17-out-of-20 finish. While some people try to portray hybrids as fragile and over-complicated, the Outlander’s plug-in hybrid system operated without fail, proving these drivetrains can be just as rugged and reliable as conventional combustion engines.

Consumers are listening too, and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has become the best-selling plug-in in the U.K., outpacing every other plug-in vehicle when it comes to applications for tax credits. The market for plug-in SUVs is wide open right now, and when the Outlander PHEV due to come to the U.S. next year (with a few changes made for the American market), it could prove just as popular. Americans love their SUVs, and if they can get Prius-like fuel economy from them, all the better. It delivers the fuel economy it promises too, as part of Mitsubishi’s pledge to deliver real-world MPG ratings.

If you thought the smugness of Prius drivers was bad, wait until Outlander PHEVs start putting compact cars to shame.

In July, 43% of car buyers who qualified for the UK’s Plug-In Car Grant plunked their money down on a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, reports Electric Vehicle News. The British program pays the buyer 20% of the cost of a qualifying vehicle up to a maximum of £ 8000 which is equivalent to $13,400.

British buyers are highly impressed with the car’s fuel economy rating of 148 MPGe and ultra low emissions. Those numbers plus its outstanding range have made the Mitsubishi a hugely popular choice among SUV shoppers, especially thoses looking for a deal. It’s the only plug-in hybrid SUV you can get, and in a country that considers the Land Rover to be both a status icon and a symbol of national pride, the much techier-and-cheaper Outlander PHEV is filling the gap in a big way.

The latest model of the Outlander PHEV is due in the US in 2016, and the company has promised us the it will be exciting and “completely different”. Mitsubishi hopes the increased sales in foreign markets recently will happen here as well.

Mitsubishi has delayed the US launch of its Outlander Hybrid several times already- but that’s not because the award-winning technology behind the PHEV isn’t ready. Instead, it’s because Mitsubishi’s PHEV is selling out in every market it’s being sold in – and Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid sales just surpassed 33,000 units!

At the moment, Mitsubishi is building Outlander Hybrids as fast as it can – and it looks like North America will have to wait for the all-new, completely-different 2016 Outlander before we get a taste of Mitsubishi’s forward-looking PHEVs.

Until then, we have Mitsubishi’s official press release and a chart telling us something Gas 2 readers already know: the plug-in cars are winning!

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have doubled annually in Europe since they were first marketed in 2010, the electrification section of T&E’s cars and CO2 report reveals. In 2013, provisional sales data from the European Environment Agency show that nearly 50,000 plug-in vehicles were sold, representing around 0.4% of all car sales in the EU.

The top three selling EV models in 2013 were all new entrants to the market (Renault Zoe, Mitsubishi Outlander and Volvo V60 Plug-in). In contrast, sales of the best-selling models in 2012 (Opel Ampera and Peugeot Citroen iOn / C-zero ) both fell significantly.

“Electric vehicles can play an important role in the shift to more sustainable mobility, and their increasing sales are being driven by carmakers’ need to innovate to meet EU CO2 regulations,” said Greg Archer of Transport & Environment.

The report highlights the importance of establishing new car emissions standards for 2025 and 2030 to ensure investment in low-carbon vehicles technologies is maintained. It warns that proposals by German carmakers to include transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would lead to higher transport emissions, more oil imports and less innovation in low carbon vehicle technologies because the ETS wouldn’t require emissions reductions in the transport sector.

“Including transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme would put a brake on low carbon vehicle innovation. Emissions standards complemented by targets for ultralow carbon efficient cars will ensure the current rapid pace of innovation is maintained,” Archer concluded.

The report shows sales of electric cars in Europe represent around a quarter of global sales. Sales in California are the highest in the world driven by a mandatory but tradeable requirement on carmakers to supply small numbers of these vehicles. T&E advocate a similar policy for the EU rather than encouraging EV sales through the flawed system of ‘supercredits’ that simply reduce the need for carmakers to improve the efficiency of conventional vehicles.

Cars are responsible for 15% of Europe’s total CO2 emissions and are the single largest source of emissions in the transport sector. The EU’s first obligatory rules on carbon emissions require car manufacturers to limit their average car to a maximum of 130 grams of CO2 per km by 2015, and 95g by 2021.

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The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.